IGWEBUIKE AS AN IGBO-AFRICAN RELATIONAL ETHICAL THEORY

Abstract

Ethical theories are attempts by individuals or schools of thought to provide clear and unified accounts of what our ethical responsibilities are or what we are obliged to do. They help to create the fundamentals of obligation suitable and applicable to professional and personal conduct of a person in his or her everyday life. Ethical theories also help in understanding moral dilemmas, in terms of making moral decision at certain points, justifying obligations and ideas, relating morality and also explaining the difference in terms of responsibility. A cursory glance at the development of the history of Western philosophy reveals a variety of ethical theories: the golden mean ethical theory, rights-based ethical theory, divine command ethical theory, deontological ethical theory, feminist ethical theory, the ethics of care theory, etc. This work focused on the quest for an African ethical theory, one that would capture and express the African basic principles of morality. To achieve this, it studied Igwebuike as the operative condition of Igbo-African ethical theory. Igwebuike as a complementary philosophy understands life as a shared reality, and this complementarity, solidarity, relationality, communality, etc., are the principles that shape the African ethical theory. This ethical theory is hoped to be a systematic cross-cultural engagement with Western ethical theories that are individualistic and non-relational. For the purpose of this piece, the hermeneutic, analytical and critical methods of inquiry will be employed. It discovers that the distinctive character of Igwebuike Igbo ethical theory is its communal and relational character which makes the African contribution to the discourse on ethics.